This past weekend we went out to the bamboo park (wangjianglou gong yuan), friends have told me that it's a nice park, but until this past weekend I have not had the opportunity to go. I'm actually sorry that I haven't been before now.
Bamboo park is, like it's name suggests, a beautiful forest of bamboo laid out in traditional Chinese park fashion. There are lots of sidewalks, shaded by bamboo, to walk on, and lots of raised walled planters with flowers, and shrubbery, but not a lot of grass. There are several clearings (all cement, of course) where you can get a table and have a cup of tea while enjoying the outdoors and people watching. In case you didn't know, Chengdu is known for it's tea gardens, and it's relaxed way of life (hen shufu de ganjue - the very comfortable feeling).
It was a Saturday so there were old ladies knitting, and playing mahjong, men playing cards, and people just generally sitting around drinking tea (or harder stuff) and enjoying life. We were fortunate enough to sit next to a group playing some traditional Chinese instruments and basically having a jam session. I, unfortunately, do not know the name of the instruments, but the playing was lovely. Some of the best examples of traditional music I've heard here. There were also the usual tea garden haunts, a man with two long metal sticks for ear cleaning (I will NOT do that), someone offering massages, and a man walking around selling turtles.
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